A Beautiful Mess.

 I joined MOPS again this year and the theme is "A Beautiful Mess," the point being a lot of us (or all if we're honest!) are messes inside but we are worth loving and that hopefully this year we will dive into the lives of the women around us and love them with grace, despite how "messy" they are. And vice versa. It sure fit how I felt this morning! I debated whether or not to go to the first meeting all the way up til the last minute...and beyond! Eliana has just been getting over being sick and although she was better today than the past couple of days, she was crying and saying she didn't want to go to MOPS. The baby I watch was getting sleepy and soon ready to eat but I packed them both up and, despite being almost 15 minutes late, marched myself (and the crew!) into the church. I immediately just felt a peace about being there when I saw that not only was I not the only one who was late, but I was greeted with smiles and genuine kindness by several friends there.

I am so very thankful I took the step out of isolation and joined the group last spring. It has been such a blessing to get to know some really wonderful women and journey through the "mess" of motherhood, wifehood and well, just plain humanhood! I really have learned a lot in the past 6 months.  I met several new people today and hope to make a lot of new friends and community this year. So thankful.

Zakkai got his school t-shirt today at school and he was SO excited to show me. He claimed that his other shirt he was wearing today was "sweaty" and he just had to take it off....and try on his new shirt. He's a devious fellow sometimes! I wouldn't be surprised if I have to pry it out of his hand to wash it....:)

These are the looks I've been getting from this little lady lately. I'm sure you can catch the gist, even through the blurriness! She doesn't like having a cough but sure hasn't minded wheedling some extra cuddles and hugs!

Ben and I made a new plan to take the boys on special outings (B won't let me call them "dates") once a month with each of us to spend some special time with them. This month was Ben's turn with Zakkai and will be mine with Samuel. Ben surprised Zakkai by taking him from school for lunch today! He called the school and Z's teacher told Zakkai to bring his lunch and there was a surprise for him in the office. He was SO surprised when he saw his daddy standing there!

Ben walked with him to the park and they spent the whole time just eating and talking and even saw a fox at the park! It not only made Z's day to be loved by his daddy, it made Ben's day, too. Now Samuel is wondering what I have up my sleeve!

If you have any fun little ideas for a simple, cheap little "outing" we could have/do with the boys, please pass it on!

Pawna and Koalas..

 Apparently summer isn't quite finished with us yet, despite the stirrings of fall dreams of apple picking, wearing jeans and cooking soups again. We're back to mid-90 degree weather and I know that probably doesn't make my Texas family blink an eye but for us mid-westerners....it's HOT!

It was pretty miserable walking home from school today so we did not linger at the school. Zakkai decided to take over pushing Eliana for me since I was watching the baby today, which I don't usually do on Mondays. I was wearing him in the Moby wrap and we were making each other sweat!!

Z said, "Mommy, can you please take a picture of Eliana and me??!" No-brainer! I don't get enough pictures of my boys because they aren't home nearly as much and are too busy for pictures!

Here's my 3rd grader! See all the key chains hanging off his book bag? That was "THE" thing to do last year! All the kids were collecting key chains like mad. One little friend of ours even had a huge cluster of over 15! This year the fad seems to be rubber band bracelets. Apparently there are kits that you can buy to make them and the boys are begging me for one. I said maybe for Christmas. We'll see if the fad lasts that long!!

And don't forget Miss Thang! She found some 3D glasses and decided to try them on:) Too cool for words!

She still has that lingering cold and has a cough now. She's not really sick, just a little extra clingy and easier to upset than normal. I've been calling her my little koala bear because she clings to me like one. I showed her pictures today and she thought they were pretty cute!

This weekend Zakkai wrote his first story! He was very busy with many colored markers and took forever to come up with his idea but once he did, he wrote like mad! He kept asking us how to spell words. "How do you spell Once?"

B and I were sitting on the couch when he looked up and said, "How do you spell 'pawna'?" We both looked at each other in confusion and said, "Pawna??" Zakkai said, "Yeah! Like 'Onca Pona? "(Once Upon A). We thought that was just adorable! He wrote a story about some Angry Birds and Pigs and says he's going to sell it for either 5 cents or $2. He hasn't decided yet:)

And Samuel has decided that Nike shoes are pretty awesome because "ALL" of his friends have them and he needs them too. Right..... I will be happy to nip this one in the bud and teach him how to be thankful for what he has!

It's a good thing to practice whether you are 8 or 80! Good night!

Friday

Happy Friday! Eliana, Baby C and I spent a quiet day at home. She just loves our little baby friend and this week has been into stroking his head while I feed him his bottles and saying, "Aw, he's so cute!" She repeats this at least 6 times a bottle:)

The boys completed another successful week at school! We started getting homework for both boys this week but I think it will be increasing next week, as the teachers start adding in more things. Samuel and I had a rough time with homework last week. He and I tend to butt heads a bit over it but thankfully, we started establishing some better afternoon routines this week that worked wonders!

I have been letting the boys stay for 10-15 minutes to play on the school playground after school and then we walk home, with them telling me things about their day. We get home and I give them a snack and declare it "Grace Period" for a half an hour. That means they can do whatever they want: read a book, play a game, play with toys, lay on the floor like a log, whatever. After the Grace Period is over, they bring me folders (which contain all the papers and homework from the day) and we start going through everything and working on homework, while I start making dinner. This is one reason why we moved our table into our kitchen; so that I could do dinner and help with homework at the same time!

A friend invited the boys over after school today so they walked home with some buddies and that gave me extra time this afternoon! I picked them up after our friend came to pick up Baby C and the boys were sweaty, stinky and happy! We came home and made our homemade pizza and watched a Dr Suess video from the library:)

Eliana has been getting into some newer nighttime/naptime rituals with how she says goodnight. She wants to give me a "little baby kiss" and if she deigns, she will let me give her a little baby kiss on her sweet cheek. Then she says, "I want to say goodnight. Goodnight, Mama!" Then the last two days she has reminded me that we are both girls and "they" are all boys:) And then she'll blow me some kisses and after I close the door, she yells, "I LOVE YOU!!!"

She is such a sweet, stinker princess!! So lucky she has a strict Daddy to keep her under control...hahaha! (in case you don't realize the joke: She has her Daddy wrapped around all of her little fingers;)

Here's your proof:

(Mostly) Wordless Wednesday!

Just had to share:

She is the sweetest little mommy ever!!

A Visitor, Child Labor and Fall!

 I have had so much trouble using google the past two days but thankfully it is working today! It was so very hot last week which made walking to/from school pretty miserable! On Friday afternoon, I was talking to Ben on the phone when I noticed something moving on our back porch out of the corner of my eye. I quickly realized it was a squirrel, which is unusual!

I crept closer and peeked out of our blinds and saw this:

At first I was afraid the squirrel was dying on our porch because it was panting really fast and kept laying out flat like a squirrel rug! But then I realized that the poor squirrel was trying to cool off since it was 96 degrees outside! The heat and lack of rain had dried up all the water in the birdbath, which they usually drink from. I ended up taking out a huge pot of water and refilling the birdbath. He came back twice to rest in the cool shade of our concrete porch but I am sure he is now enjoying the cooler weather!

We were planning on having a fun day as a family on Saturday but were thwarted by heavy rain all morning. So Ben got the kiddos working on scrubbing the bathtub ~ which it really needed! They worked hard and long, using our new natural cleaning supplies of baking soda, water and lemons! Oh, and don't forget the toothbrushes:)

And if you think this is child labor or torture, don't! They had a really good time:)

Today the kiddos are home from school and hopefully will be doing a lot of playing outside since it has cooled off so much. We are even starting to think about apple picking and maybe even a camping trip nearby before it gets too cold!

I may even start getting in the mood for some fall baking and quilting. It's my favorite time of the year!